Authoritarians rigidly cling to outdated rules only when ego-involved

Evidence

(F Scale) issue, found that High RWAs performed like other subjects in a “low ego-involvement” run of the Einstellung Water Jar problems (in which subjects have to abandon a rule they have developed for solving simple mathematical problems, because it will no longer work). But Highs did significantly worse than others when the situation was more ego-involving. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 586

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to cognitive rigidity and need-for-closure literature on authoritarians, and to the Einstellung effect in problem-solving research.